User:Blackbirdinapie

During my PhD work, I developed of a fully coupled Fluid Structure Interaction (FSI)-Thermal model of the lubricating interface in external gear machines. This involved finite volume coupled code development in C++ leveraging capabilities of OpenFOAM. The model considers all the geometrical complexity of a real-world external gear machine and uses finite volume (FVM) modeling techniques to solve for the fluid flow in the micron-level lubricating film as well as heat transfer between the lubricating film and solid components coupled with solid deformation due to pressure and thermal loads. Elastohydrodynamic (EHD) and thermo-elastohydrodynamic (TEHD) lubrication regimes are modeled in an efficient manner using algebraic multigrid solvers, influence operators for pressure loads and Aitken acceleration for fluid-structure coupling. I have also performed experimental activity involving prototype & test rig design, instrumentation, data acquisition and hydraulic circuit design leading to capacitive film thickness measurements towards model validation.